Louise Betts' killer seeks parole for 14th time

ROCKFORD - The letter came to the Betts family shortly before Christmas, as it has many times before, informing them that their sister's killer would try again to walk free.

It's a letter that's ruined many holidays, family members said. They're forced to relive the day nearly 37 years ago that 17-year-old Louise Betts went missing, only to be found dead in rural Boone County six months later.

"It's like the sutures being torn off a really deep wound," Earl Betts, Louise's brother, said in a phone interview from his home in Texas.

The family has again turned its focus toward ensuring Louise's convicted killer Curtis J. Brownell doesn't get parole. They encourage thousands of people each time Brownell is up for parole to sign a petition against his release. Brownell has been denied parole 13 times since first trying in 1987. So far, no member of the Illinois Prisoner Review Board has voted for his release.

"You never have a sense of closure," said Gary Betts, Louise's brother who lives in Loves Park. "The sense of loss, the pain and the heartache is brought back to the surface like it was just yesterday."

The Register Star and rrstar.com are accepting signatures for and against Brownell's release from prison. More than 4,000 signatures were gathered against his last parole attempt in 2011.

Louise Betts was kidnapped around Sept. 27, 1977, as she hitchhiked along North Second Street in Loves Park. Brownell held her at knifepoint as he drove her to rural Boone County, where he raped then killed her.

Before Betts' body was discovered six months later, Brownell attacked another woman. This time he abducted a woman who was seven months pregnant and at a Rockford laundromat on Jan. 31, 1978. He raped her, pistol-whipped her and ran over her with his car, but she survived in part because of deep snow packed around her, according to Register Star archives citing state records.

Brownell was sentenced to between 200 to 600 years in prison, but it was under the state's old indeterminate sentences. Under the old system, judges sentenced prisoners to a range of time and the Prison Review Board decided when to release them.

"Mr. Brownell has never expressed any kind of remorse and everything that I've seen indicates that there's no possibility of him being rehabilitated," said Louise's sister Debby Brown, who lives in Texas. "That's always my greatest fear that in fact some day the parole board might turn him lose. I have no doubt within my mind that he would reoffend and someone else would be going through this."

Winnebago and Boone County state's attorneys Joe Bruscato and Michelle Courier each plan to support the family and appear before the parole board in February to lobby against Brownell's release, Bruscato said. A decision by the parole board is expected March 27.

Louise Betts would be 53 today. Family members said she had a carefree and fun-loving personality.

"I think about what the possibilities were for her and the nieces or nephews that I missed out on," Earl Betts said.

She was also a big dreamer with aspirations to become a famous singer or actress.

"Due to being the big dreamer that she was, there's no telling what she could have been," Earl Betts said. "Anybody's life that she ever touched, they fell in love with her because of her personality and her love of life."

Kevin Haas: 815-987-1410; khaas@rrstar.com; @KevinMHaas

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